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Making A Difference – Thoughts, Observations and Opinions
This is Dave Brock’s Blog.
It offers my views on a variety of business, sales, marketing, and leadership topic. My goal is to make a difference for you, the reader, in both your professional and personal lives.
Latest Posts
“Why I’m So Interested In Selling,” Barry Trailer
Preface: Barry Trailer has been a leader in researching/surveying sales performance and providing deep insights into that performance. Something many people may not know is that Barry was trained as a civil engineer. Whenever I get on a Zoom call with him, I’m distracted by the classic drafting table on one wall of his office. We always exchange stories of sitting at those tables, doing designs on paper. Always brings back such fond memories. A couple of things stand out–one the survey Barry cites stating that sales people are tied with politicians in how credible people believe they are. And […]
“Why I’m So Interested In Selling,” Jill Konrath
Preface: Jill Konrath is one of the most well respected author, speaker, teacher on all things selling. She’s written 4 masterpieces on selling. More importantly, at least to me, Jill is an important mentor to me. She has been a very willing coach, helping me think and execute at higher levels. Very few people care enough to say, “Dave, you can do so much better….” Jill and I share a common dream, how to make a difference—in the people/companies we work with, in our communities, and in society. In the past year, Jill has shifted her focus to a very […]
Designed To Fail?
It’s crazy to think that we purposely design our organizations to fail. Who would think of that, particularly in selling? We are driven to succeed, to over achieve our goals. We constantly talk about winning. If this is true, why do we see year after year of declining performance and results? For example, we see percent of people achieving goals declining—today roughly 40% of sellers are achieving or exceeding quota? To most of us, it’s unimaginable, but why do we see this persist YoY, even continuing to decline? We see win rates plummeting. I was quoted once saying, “I fire […]
The “Tolerance Stack Up Error” Problem
Any reader who was trained as an engineer or anyone with experience in assembling machines (or Ikea furniture) will recognize the Tolerance Stack Up Error. But, too often, I see the equivalent of this problem in our GTM strategies and execution efforts. For those of you scratching your heads, let me describe the tolerance tack up error. When we are designing a machine, we specify the dimensions and performance characteristics of each part in the assembly. While we provide exact specifications, “It has to have dimensions of X inches, by Y inches, by Z inches. It has to have a […]
Simplification…….
It’s trite to say we live in worlds of growing complexity. The rates of change and disruption seem to be accelerating. Global competition, new technologies, new business models, new market opportunities both create challenge and opportunity. Workloads seem to sky rocket as do demands on our time. Distractions whether device based, app based or self inflicted consume our time. And it would be unrealistic to expect any of this change for the better. But……. To often, I think much of the challenge we face is self inflicted. We tend to make things more complex or more difficult than they need […]
“Woe Are We,” And Other Hand Wringing Experiences
Every quarter there is the inevitable rush to close deals, to hit our numbers. Yet there are so many challenges and barriers. The global economy/turmoil and continued layoffs/reductions, and shuffling of priorities–both within our customers, markets, and within our own organizations. The simultaneous promise/threat of AI, “Will it help me be more efficient or will it make me unnecessary?” The increasing difficulty–perhaps–inability to engage our customers, with many claiming “outbound is dead,” and others seeing PLG and other inbound strategies as critical to making the numbers (forgetting PLG applies to only a small set of solutions). Add on to this […]